Santorum's Midwest thrust

Euronews

Rick Santorum is radiating confidence that his Tuesday win in the Midwest reflects his Republican party’s true intentions. It was three-fold: in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

In the race for the nomination to run for the US presidency, Santorum swatted away at frontrunner rival Mitt Romney after Tuesday’s three presidential contests. The message he projected was, ‘look no further for the real conservative’.

Santorum said: “On health care, the environment, cap and trade and on the Wall Street bailouts, Mitt Romney has the same positions as Barack Obama, and in fact, would not be the best person to come up and fight for your voices for freedom in America.”

Santorum and many like-minded Republicans brand Romney a ‘moderate’ – a slur, if not an insult in some circles.

Here is a campaign ad voice-over: “He is Rick Santorum, a loving husband and devoted father, home-schooler, and a man of deep faith. He wrote the law that banned partial birth abortions, overhauled America’s welfare system. No one has done more that Santorum to alert Americans to the dangers of Iran than Rick Santorum.”

The former Senator for Pennsylvania has taken some of the wind out of Romney’s campaign sails. This shows that at least some Republicans remain firmly unconvinced by many in the party establishment urging them to fall in line behind former Massachusetts governor Romney.

Santorum has been largely in Romney’s backwash since chalking up a narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses. With the Midwest ballots he regained some thrust.

Santorum now has four victories to give thanks for. No other candidate has as many, although by some estimates Romney has more than double the number of pledged and unpledged delegates supporting him.

Santorum now looks forward to other voters voicing their preference, notably in Super Tuesday’s nine states on March 6.